Welcome to AC Metaxas and Associates, a consultancy specialising in the use of RF and microwave power into the industrial sector.

THE DATE OF THE NEXT ONE-DAY SHORT COURSE ON DIELECTRIC HEATING [MICROWAVES AND RADIO FREQUENCY HEATING] WILL PLACE AT ST JOHNS COLLEGE Cambridge ON TUESDAY 19 MARCH 2019. VISIT THE RELEVANT PAGE HERE FOR DETAILS

Dr AC (Ricky) Metaxas is a Life Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge, UK and Honorary President of AMPERE, an association which he conceived and co-founded and served as President from 1995 to 2005. For a perspective of his recollections regarding the early stages of the RF and microwave heating industry do glance at the article he wrote for the AMPERE Newsletter issue 37 in 2003.

Ricky was invited to deliver a talk at the 50th anniversary of IMPI (International Microwave Power Institute) in Orlando in June 2016. After his talk it was announced that the Board Of Governors have bestowed on Ricky an Honorary Fellowship of IMPI. The small commemorative plaque presented after his talk is shown here.

Prior to joining the Engineering Dept at the University in Cambridge in 1982 he spent ten years at the Electricity Council Research Centre (E.C.R.C-now CTech Innovation Ltd) , Capenhurst, Chester, liaising throughout the UK but primarily with industries in Yorkshire and Lancashire and attempting to introduce efficient methods based on the use of Electricity for drying, heating, waste or food reprocessing, and so on. The aim was to replace a number of processes based on steam or hot air and driven by conventional energy such as coal, oil and gas. For topics and areas that we can assist you visit the What we offer page on this website.

Dr Ricky (AC) Metaxas was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd World Congress of Microwave Energy Applications (2GCMEA) which took place at Long Beach near los Angeles in California in July 2012 (see Awards page on this website). Ricky in the green room at St Johns College with the award.

Dr Metaxas also has an award named after him, the ‘Ricky Metaxas Pioneer Award’, which was bestowed to him by the organising committee of the World Congress on microwave and RF energy. The award is presented to a promising young researcher every four years, and this year, at the 3rd Global Congress of Microwave Energy Applications (3GCMEA) venue in Cartegena, Spain, it was presented to John Gerling, of MUEGGE gmbh, a leading international manufacturer and supplier of systems for advanced industrial microwave heating and plasma applications. Upon receiving the award, John said: “I want to express my deepest gratitude for having received such a prestigious award and I hope to live up to the honour in the years to come”. (see Awards page on this website)

Dr Metaxas’ book, “Foundations of Electroheat: A Unified Approach“ John Wiley and Sons 1996, has been translated in Albanian and Macedonian languages for use as a textbook in technical Colleges in that region. This book was written specifically as a handout to fourth year students at the Engineering Department, University of Cambridge who elected to follow the series of lectures comprising the course on Electroheat. It includes all the major uses of electricity from direct resistance heating and the plasma furnace to electromagnetic heating and processing with lasers such as Nd:YAG or CO2 lasers. It gives a brief account on industrial processes for all these applications as well as solved examples of questions that were set for the Tripos examinations at the Engineering Department.

Further the book he co-authored with R Meredith, founder of Magnetronics Ltd, entitled Industrial Microwave Heating, IEE (now IET) Power Engineering Series 1983 (reprinted 1988, 1993) is known as the BIBLE for researchers working on various aspects of microwave heating.

This book was written while Ricky Metaxas was liasing with industry during his time at the E.C.R.C. (now CTech Innovation see below). After an initial discussion with industrial contacts, Ricky Metaxas and his colleagues at E.C.R.C. would design a specific equipment back at his base and subsequently install it in an industrial firm or at a university in the region with appropriate equipment or expertise at close hand and test it in situ. Following such tests and feasibility studies coupled with a cost benefit analysis a recommndation would be made to the company’s board as to the appropriateness of such a substitution from conventional to electrical energy usage.

It has to be said that such an approach was hugely aided by a representation from the local Area Boards which were part of the electricity supply industry (esi). With the privitisation of the ESI in 1991 alas most Local Area Boards have now closed, or at least their industrial networking vis a vis industrial processing has been considerably reduced to the extent that industrialists in the UK and indeed Europe are forced to seek advice from consultancies specialising in this area who apart from ourselves for both RF and microwave heating include Koral Associates for radio frequency heating or indeed major players in this area such as CTech Innovation Ltd based near Chester, UK or the NCIMP at the University of Nottingham, UK.

A Member of Cambridge Network

Cambridge ideas change the world and have created the vibrant high-technology cluster of Cambridge UK. Cambridge Network is a cross- sector membership organisation that brings people together – from business and academia – to meet each other and share ideas, encouraging collaboration for greater success. We organise shared learning and events for members, and help bring new people to the region.

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what we do

AC Metaxas and Associates specialises in advising industry on the use of radio frequency and microwave energies between the frequency regime of 10MHz-10 GHz in various operations.